The present invention is related generally to the field of orthodontics, and more particularly to systems and methods for bite-setting teeth models.
One objective in orthodontics is to move a patient""s teeth to positions where the teeth function optimally and aesthetically. Conventionally, appliances such as braces are applied to the teeth of the patient by an orthodontist. Each appliance exerts continual force on the teeth and gradually urges the teeth toward their ideal positions. Over a period of time, the orthodontist adjusts the appliances to move the teeth toward their final destination.
Generally, the orthodontist specifies in a prescription the final tooth arrangement. The prescription is based on the orthodontist""s knowledge and experience in selecting the intended final position of each tooth. The orthodontist or an assistant applies the prescription in moving the teeth over a number of office visits.
The process of attaching the braces to teeth is tedious and painful to the patient. Additionally, each visit reduces the xe2x80x9cchair-timexe2x80x9d available to the orthodontist that could be used for another patient. Hence, the process of treating teeth using braces can be expensive.
New methods, such as those described in U.S. Pat. No. 5,975,893, allow the treatment to be planned in advance and all individual appliances to be fabricated at the outset of treatment. The appliances may thus be provided to the patient as a single package or system. Unlike braces, the patient need not visit the treating professional every time an adjustment in the treatment is made. While the patients will usually want to visit their treating professionals periodically to assure that treatment is going according to the original plan, eliminating the need to visit the treating professional each time an adjustment is to be made allows the treatment to be carried out in many more, but smaller, successive steps while still reducing the time spent by the treating professional with the individual patient. Moreover, the ability to use polymeric shell appliances that are more comfortable, less visible, and removable by the patient, greatly improves patient compliance, comfort, and satisfaction.
In the above system, and in other computer-aided teeth treatment system, as a first step, a digital data set representing an initial tooth arrangement is obtained, referred to hereinafter as the IDDS. The IDDS may be obtained in a variety of ways. For example, the patient""s teeth may be scanned or imaged using well known technology, such as X-rays, three-dimensional x-rays, computer-aided tomographic images or data sets, magnetic resonance images, etc. Methods for digitizing such conventional images to produce data sets useful in the present invention are well known and described in the patent and medical literature. Usually, however, the present invention will rely on first obtaining a plaster cast of the patient""s teeth by well known techniques, such as those described in Graber, Orthodontics: Principle and Practice, Second Edition, Saunders, Philadelphia, 1969, pp. 401-415. After the tooth casting is obtained, it can be digitally scanned using a conventional laser scanner or other range acquisition system to produce the IDDS. The data set produced by the range acquisition system may, of course, be converted to other formats to be compatible with the software which is used for manipulating images within the data set, as described in more detail below. General techniques for producing plaster casts of teeth and generating digital models using laser scanning techniques are described, for example, in U.S. Pat. No. 5,605,459. After scanning, computer models of teeth on an upper jaw and a lower jaw are generated. However, these models are not aligned relative to each other. Thus, a bite setting operation is manually performed using human operators.
The present invention includes a system, apparatus and computer-implemented method for arranging a computer model of teeth. According to one implementation, the method includes displaying an outline of the first jaw on the screen; overlaying the teeth on the second jaw with the outline on the screen; and aligning the outline with the teeth on the second jaw.
Implementations of the system may include one or more of the following. The system can display contact points between teeth on the first and second jaws. A grid can be displayed on the screen. The system can automatically align the first and second jaws based on one or more tooth features. An outline of a tooth can be displayed with the outline of the first jaw.
Advantages of the invention include one or more of the following. When digital data relating to teeth on the upper and lower jaws is provided, a bite-aligned computer model can be generated. The models of jaws are visible for alignment purposes as an operator moves them either left or right or tilts them up or down. The system provides an easy way to determine the relative position of the upper jaw to the lower jaw. By providing a visual picture of one jaw relative to another jaw, the system eliminates guesswork as to the bite setting for the models of the teeth on the jaws. The operation can be performed using little or no human labor.